By CHELSEA JENSEN
By CHELSEA JENSEN
Stephens Media
Twenty officers have been directed to quash a rash of burglaries and car crimes in South Kona that police attribute to an organized group of drug users trying to feed methamphetamine habits, officials said Tuesday.
Hawaii Police Department Criminal Investigations Division Capt. Chad Basque said the special task force includes 20 officers from the department, including several of rank, who have been been directed to focus solely on stopping the trend as soon as possible.
“We strongly believe we know who is responsible for this spree, and we have compiled a task force under command of a lieutenant and two sergeants,” said West Hawaii Assistant Chief Paul Kealoha. “These officers, from various divisions, are 100 percent committed to … bringing our burglary rate back down to where it was before this crime sprees. The personnel is in place and we have a plan.”
Among the persons of interest in connection with the burglaries are Joseph Narzisi, Ryan Jeffries-Hamar, Joshua Watan, Curtis Kekahuna, Sean Gregory, Danny Estocado, Keokalani Jaoquin, Michael Galon, Joel Landsborough and Nicole Adams, according to the department. Narziz, Jeffreis-Hamar and Watan have been apprehended.
Residents are asked not to approach these people, who police said are also wanted on other warrants and may be armed, but rather to call police.
“All of these people are not new, we know them and have dealt with all of them,” said Basque. “They are an organized group and they feed off of each other and utilize each other’s strength and weaknesses to do what they do know, which is burglarize homes.”
Added Kealoha: “The perpetrators, for lack of a better word, are ‘iceheads’ — they’re addicted (to methamphetamine). The motivation for these crimes is to support a habit.”
Well over 100 people came out for a community meeting with police and county officials Tuesday evening at Konawaena High School. Four ranking police officers, including Kealoha, and various Hawaii County officials, including prosecutors, were present.
Attendees were given a packet containing crime data, tips and contact information for the department. Also discussed during the meeting was the right to use force to protect property, which police and county officials said is a citizen’s right, but should be used only as a last resort.
According to the Hawaii Police Department, burglary, unauthorized entry into a vehicle and car theft cases have increased islandwide during the past couple months.
Comparing 2011 to 2012, the number of burglary cases during August in North Kona has increased from 15 to 43. In South Kona it has increased from two cases to 15.
Auto theft cases during the same period remained static in North Kona but increased from one case to seven in South Kona. Car breakins were also up in both districts, with North Kona seeing an increase from six cases to 22 while South Kona saw an increase of one.
“Everybody is getting hit, every district has had a large increase in burglaries and other crimes,” Basque said.
Kona Patrol Capt. Richard Sherlock said the group has a clear method when committing the crimes. He explained that most of the incidents are occurring during daylight hours on weekdays at unoccupied homes. The group most commonly enters through a window and ransacks the home in search of cash, jewelry, weapons and electronics.
To increase the communication between the public and police, the department is working to provide online a daily wrap up of what crimes occur in the South Kona district, he said. He also wants to use technology to keep in touch with the area’s 21 neighborhood watches.
Neighborhood Watch Coordinator and Councilwoman Brenda Ford lambasted the officers, pointing out a lack of response from officers, lagging neighborhood watches and relatively few officers patrolling South Kona, the island’s only district without a dedicated police force. She also pushed for the long-promised South Kona police station, for which she has submitted a funding request.
Residents also provided police an array of their own suggestions, including ways to help communication, utilize existing technology, and publicize photos of suspects more often.
One even said dispatchers need to better attitudes toward residents trying to report information.
Kailua-Kona resident and former Hokulia security employee Maile Tyrrell-Morrison suggested the community initiate its own Facebook page to get the word out about crimes.
“A lot of us are Facebook connected,” she said. “It’s about being aware, vigilant and observant.”
Email Chelsea Jensen at cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com.